Preparing and supporting Florida’s child welfare workforce from classroom to case work to competent leadership
Advance Learn Innovate Grow Network (ALIGN)
ALIGN is a learning community that offers holistic support for child welfare professionals and advancement opportunities throughout their career. Joining this community includes support through training and onboarding, opportunities for specialization through Advanced Certification courses (AdCert), as well as ongoing mentoring and coaching.
The ALIGN community will offer myriad specialty areas for the child welfare professional to take courses, learn about relevant issues, and gain experience in problem solving to become more confident in their approach and feel supported throughout their learning pathway.
Advanced Certifications
The AdCert courses will facilitate the implementation of a cohesive and progressive path of professional development that meaningfully connects to their pre-service training. The program will provide to DCF a university-led, evidence-based, trauma-informed, engaging training that will increase workers’ preparation and self-efficacy to handle the complexity of their caseload. This ongoing program will engage child welfare workers and give them new knowledge, technical assistance, and support throughout their advancement up the career ladder. This will allow them to build expertise and specialize, ideally resulting in both improved worker job satisfaction and advanced and diverse competencies within the workforce.
Currently, there are three professional certification pathways under development. Research is clear that substance use disorders, domestic violence, mental health, and the concomitant trauma are often the leading reasons that families enter the child welfare system. The field is also recognizing that while there are adverse childhood experiences, there are also positive experiences that can be identified as strengths. We now understand that it is important to be not only trauma-informed but also trauma-responsive.
Well-Being & Resilience
Through Coaching, Reflective Supervision
The continued development of the AWE program will be informed through implementation with two demonstration sites. This process will be led by Dr. Pryce and two faculty affiliates, Drs. Dina Wilke and Karen Randolph, with support from the Institute Program Directors of GROW and Science & Research. Site one will begin January 2022 and site two will begin in July 2022. In addition to participating in AWE, these sites are considered partners in the continued development and refinement of the AWE program through the formative evaluation.
Partners
The first three AdCert topics (Resilience and trauma, Domestic Violence, and Understanding Substance Use Disorder), will serve as the foundation of all future professional certification options.
Our subject matter experts meet regularly with our DCF and CBC partners to ensure that the preservice curricula serve as the foundation for the prerequisite courses, and the prerequisite courses prepare the learner to be successful in the advanced certification courses. The development of content for the first certification pathways is guided by this collaboration.
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The Vision of ALIGN
To cultivate a learning community of professionals who benefit from enhancement of skills as well as comprehensive support as they advance in their child welfare careers.
Implementation Plan
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